Adventurous Day!

 

Had a great and adventurous day with my friend Katherine. First, we headed out to pick up our custom lamps we had made. A couple weeks ago we went to this shop and you are able to pick any vase and this lady makes it into a lamp. I bought the white/red flowers with red shade. It turned out great!

 

Since we were in a very local area we decided to walk around and check out the streets. We came across this cute set of twins.

 

And of course both wearing their split pants :)

We then came across a bunch of birds awaiting their death.. We happened to get there right when a lady was getting the chicken ready to eat. We both braved it and watched it from beginning to end! LOL. Living here has clearly desensitized me :)

 

Warning: Gross pics :) LOL

The butcher

 

In the hot pot he goes

Bye feathers!

FEATHERS!

Getting clean

Walking away with dinner for tonight

I also tried some street food for the first time. We both braved a piece of fried dough/bread :) It was alright, but at least I can say I tried something. Bread will be as adventurous as I'll get with that!

 

For lunch we went to try a new restaurant we had seen in a magazine here. It's a cafe called More than Toilet. Was definitely a novelty restaurant. Will have to bring the kids back and get the ice cream. They will love it! LOL

 

Gigantic toilet handing on the wall

 

Golden urinals above us :)

 

My dessert - Close Stool #5

 

Our chair (aka throne)

 

Star Kid

Rilynn was asked last month if she would like to be interviewed and be Shanghai Family's Magazine Star Member for the September issue. She of course said yes! Elinor from the magazine came to our house and interviewed Rilynn about herself and some of her favorite things. The issue came out a couple days ago and she is thrilled to see herself in the magazine :)

 

Jinshan Peasant Painting Village

Since our time here is coming to an end, I'm really trying to work on my 'To Do' list. One of those things was to visit and buy a peasant painting from a place called the Peasant Painting Village. It was a beautiful day out and the kids and I were free for the day so we decided to drive over an hour to go and check it out.

 

Here's a little history of the Peasant Village:

 

In 1972, as China was still in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, classical painter Wu Tongzhang (吴彤章) was sent to the rural area of Jinshan, south of Shanghai, as part of the “back to the countryside” (上山下乡运动) movement. He was dispatched there to learn from the peasant farmers -- the anti-bourgeois heroes of Chairman Mao's revolution.
What the authorities probably did not anticipate was what Shanghai city-boy Wu would teach the locals.
With a long history of local handicrafts -- including paper cutting, embroidery and wood carving -- Wu realized that Jinshan's peasants had some artistic aptitude and he made it his mission to teach them to paint.
There are now about 300 full-time peasant painters in Jinshan, mainly in the dedicated farmer painter village in Fengjing water town (金山农民画村).
Unlike their predecessors, who Wu taught, the new generation of folk painters have never farmed in life -- they live by their paint brushes.
Zhu Xi (朱希) is 55 years old and began painting in 1976. This makes him one of the original Jinshan “peasant Picassos.”

Jinshan peasant painting first came to prominence internationally in the late 1970s and in the past few decades, works from Zhu and his fellow Jinshan artists have been exhibited in Japan, the United States, Europe and South America.
The style is renowned for its use of strong colors -- reds, greens, yellows and blues abound -- which are used liberally to depict people, animals and places which at first glance seem crudely drawn, as though by the hand of a child.
Though the “peasant Picassos” paint the reality of their day-to-day lives in the countryside, the way in which they paint gives the scenes an unreal, or hyper-real quality.

 

 

The best part of the day for the kids!! :) They had the entire playground to themselves!!

 

 

 Not sure what this instrument was, but it sounded good

 and looked cool

 

This is the lady who we bought our paintings from. We bought 6 small and 3 medium one's. Rilynn was very helpful communicating for me!

A piece in progress

The outside of her house/studio

Info about our painter

 

Our Purchases

 The kids' Chinese Zodiac Signs- Rilynn the Rooster and Brady the Rat :)

 Beijing- The Great Wall

 Shanghai- Pudong skyline

 The four seasons- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

 Brady had to have this 'Pirate Ship' as he says it reminds him of the one outside our apartment on the river :)

Rilynn wanted this winter one since her birthday is in the winter :)

 

Where's Brady?   :)

Rilynn REALLY enjoyed watching them paint!

 

Sheshan BBQ

This past weekend we headed about an hour out of town to a place called Sheshan. Kid's Club was having a movie and BBQ night at Tianma Golf and Country Club and thought it would be a fun time. My friend Shannon and her daughter Maeve came with us. We all had an absolute blast!! It was so nice to be out of the city and at a nice peaceful place. Too bad it's a private country club, so it'll be our first and last time here :)

 

We started with swimming at the indoor pool. The kids loved the slides!

They also loved turning on the water fountains in the outside pool. The grounds of this place were amazing!

They had an infinity pool with a lake and the forest in the background. So pretty!

Rilynn and Maeve (her little sis!)

They had scooter races for the kids. Brady is in the lead in the blue/white shirt :)

Here comes Rilynn!

Our soon to be bonfire :) They do them a little different here! LOL

Great buds!

Getting our spots ready to watch Monsters Inc. on the white screen in the middle of the lake

Eating Smores.. MMM

Watching the movie

Our bonfire :)